The Exodus Sagas: Book IV - Of Moons and Myth (34 page)

“What are your orders, Knight General?”
Codaius looked to the mercenary gangs that had joined, the little minstrels, and their fifty men that awaited by their steeds. He knew when Jardayne was troubled, for he became quiet and looked at the ground, always without a smile. “Form up with low king Symond, return to Evermont, drink it all away here in Freemoore?”

Jardayne lowered his head, he thought of the men in Evermont, his duties, and the fortress city he was charged with.
Saberrak Agrannar, Sir James, the king of Kakisteele, Mooncrest
, it warred in his head like a barrel about to burst. He smiled and looked up to Sir Codaius, then put his hand up for his horse to be brought. He took the reins and looked to his men. None of them moved, just watched.

“My friend, you have command here now. My last order to you is to see this caravan
, under Lord Cristoff,
safely through to their destination.”

“And where will the Knight General be going then?” Codaius smiled, and met the teary eyed and inspired look of his friend as he mounted his steed.

“To Evermont, at a quick pace, alone.” Jardayne reached for a shake of forearms. His men began muttering and talking now, wondering what was going on.

“May I ask your purpose for this journey?”
Sir Codaius shook his hand and smiled.

“Armondeen knows of our friends, they have threatened harm, and that I cannot abide.” Sir Jardayne nodded to Cristoff and Codaius. “I will mee
t you there, with every horse in Evermont
that our king allows, to whatever end.”

“And if he denies you, what then Jardayne?” Codaius let go of his friends’ arm as his horse began to anticipate the road home.

“Then I will meet you alone, but I
will
be there, I swear on the Shield of Shanador.” Jardayne spurred his mount, and raced out of Freemoore as fast as the crowds would allow.

“Men of Evermont, take the saddle and banners high! We ride armed escort to Lord Cristoff Bradswellen the Third!” Sir Codaius bellowed out his commands and smiled to the men as they yelled their enthusiasm back.

“
Hail
!”

“Ready to head to the Kaki Mountains men
, ready to find King Thalanaxe
?
!
” Tannek shouted next.

“
Vuumber
!”

“Peasant Swords, fall in and protect Lord Cristoff!” Julia Whiteblade raised her sword and yelled her orders
to her two hundred mercenaries
.

“
Aye
!”

“Riverbows, lead us
west by southwest, the road to Tintasarn through the sandstone peaks!” Aariss Diravas raised his bow and took his hundred
fifty elven
scouts to the lead of the formation.

“Arah
!”

“Shans o’ Little Door, strike a melody for our journey, and keep it lively now!” Tubrey o’ Tarnobb snapped the reins of the
wagon, sending his purple caravan
and the donkeys into motion.

“Yay!”

Cristoff looked at the line of men and women before him, then to his feathered cross, and then he whispered to himself. “
We are coming Sir James Andellis, you are not forgotten, and nor is your honor. Alden watch over you, over those with you, and I wish I could tell you what your bravery has allowed to happen. I wish I could be there, with all who follow the same dream, and to see what you may be seeing now. God, keep them all safe, keep a watchful eye until we arrive, and let your will guide us as it most certainly has thus far.
Thank you for Leonard, Karai, Garret, Kaya, and Rosana. Thank you for Tannek, Drodunn, Brunnwik, Codaius, Jardayne, Julia, and Aariss. For everyone we have met, and not yet met, for all of those that have died and may still bleed for our cause, I give you thanks.
Amen.”

Cristoff waited, eyes closed in prayer atop his horse, and waited for a sign that it was time for him to move. The melody of the little minstrels hummed out, the stomping of armed forces headed toward destiny, and still he waited. A lick to the face from a lewirja reared on its hind legs was what he received. Smiling, wiping the feline saliva from his beard and face, Cristoff thanked Alden o
nce more.

“Lord, I also thank you for Dalliunn Cloudwatcher, the lewirja with
such
a gifted
sense of smell.”

Ruins of Mooncrest

“I said be quiet, now!”
Gwenne whispered through her gritted teeth.

Fool of a girl, you need to enter the tower of my former student, Carados!
The powers there I can teach you are immeasureable!

Gwenneth was hovering at a forward angle, moving faster than she ever had through the air above ground. Her mind was resisting the impulses and demands of the Staff of Imoch, demands that she leave her friends and enter the green marble tower. Not that she was not fascinated by what may be inside the millennia old home of a famous archamage, but the army of skeletal soldiers on long dead steeds that chased them through the ruins held her attention to that of survival. There were hundreds, stampeding under gray skies through sandstone ruins, herding the five toward the palace.

“
Not now, after this is over. I promise you I will
---“

“Gwenneth, who are you talking to?” James grabbed her arm and pulled her around the corner
street
they had all dodged into.

She looked quick to Zen, Shinayne, and Saberrak, lastly to James. They were all breathing heavy, the dead knights would not give up their chase, it had gone on for hours. Her eyes caught the old bronze sign, barely legible from erosion, it read
Carice Way
.

“Nothing, no one, talking to myself is all. Where to
now
?”

“They aren’t lettin’ us any closer to the center,
or
near the doors to the mines.
They keep corralling us either north or west, like they’re protecting somethin’ there.
We can’t go on like this much more, I say stand at the temples.” Azenairk wiped the sweat from his face, wishing the storm that hummed
menacingly
around the
outer
ruins would blow in
ward
, just for a moment to cool off.

“I agree. We can use the bridges to lessen their numbers, and their steeds will slow with all the stairs.” Shinayne nodded, also noting that the street was named for
her blade
and the white moon
, or perhaps the other way around
.

“Make it quick, I am tired of running.” James looked southwest to the seven rising stone temples, each interwoven with connecting bridges, and then the three that surrounded them
, each
ten to twenty even
thirty stories in height
. “Looks like a maze to me, hopefully more so to them.”

“Here they come, enough talk.” Saberrak Agrannar pumped his tireless legs, greataxe in each hand, and led them toward the temples.
He saw the blackened bones and tabards, heard the trampling clatter of the equine dead they rode, and knew without a second glance that several hun
dred ancient swords were coming
for them.

Down Carice Way, then across Siddora Street with its ancient gardens,
right onto Faith Way
which held nothing but rubble
, and then left onto Tyadrie Street and
the
forgotten
burnt
markets
, the five companions ran the streets of Mooncrest toward the ancient places of worship.
The outer temple
was
smooth, open without doors nor roof, its pillars and curved walls reached three hundred feet or more into the colorless skies. A symbol of a triangle wreathed in vines
with nothing
inside
could be made out above the opening. No stairs led up from the lower floors, making them all wonder how one reached the bridges above. They kept their pace and turned again, this time down Uhmm Street.

“There, stairs up at the temple of Megos!” Gwenneth flew ahead, feeling the arcane powers lift her higher and faster with greater ease.

“The… temple.. of who?” Zen looked around, three large temples around him, seven more ahead
in a giant circle
.
It was dizzying to look up at such an angle while running for his life.

“The one with
the hand holding the moon
, Megos,
the old
God of light and magic! There is a way up, leads to the others!” Gwenne yelled, the charging dead cavalry was hissing now, close enough to hear
as they trampled the trail through old city steets
.

“I see a temple o’ Vundren, one o’ Alden, only ones I recognize, wizard. Just point for me next time.” He followed the floating woman in black robes, then looked back as the dead knights rounded the corner they had just passed, and ran faster to t
he stone stairs that were wide e
nough for ten men.

Up
stairs not climbed by a living soul in over two thousand years, the five
ran up the curling open steps that wrapped the temple of Megos far
above ruined Mooncrest. At one hundred feet, they began to slow, yet so did their pursuers. The dead dismounted, pointed helms over black skulls that spoke no words, massed by the hundreds and began their march upward toward their prey. Bone horses ran circles under the arcing and elaborate weave of bridges,
many still with dead soldiers guiding them, and some with
riders
made for the open stairs that descended from the temple of Seirena
, marked with her round moon and ivy leaves
. The undead warriors with curved blades of ancient craft spread out to surround the inner heights and bridges that all seemed to connect in one way or another.

“They block us at Seirena
’s temple
, turn left!” Gwenneth yelled.

Two hundred feet above the tim
eless ruin,
their left and right flanks were
suddenly
cut off by coutless undead
. The bridges to the temples of both Vundren
marked with the hammer and twin moons
and Siril
marked with a crescent
and stars
were blocked. Up higher, and the dead picked up speed, knowing their haunt well. They moved to block the temple passage to Alden
of
the feathered cross
. B
ehind
,
the five intruders watched as they
overran the bridges to
the temple
s
of
Vasentanessa
marked
with two serpents around
twin moons
and
of
Solumet
whose moon had flames to resemble the sun
.

“Temple of Annar, hurry!” The minotaur
snorted.

Saberrak turned, then double backed, making a run for the bridge that led to the temple of Annar
marked with a crescent moon in the grasp of a clenched fist, much like his enchanted belt
. Hal
f
way across, his allies right behind him, the mob appeared marching up stairs out of the vacant
and charred
temple
dedicated
to the God he had met
and freed
. He turned, horns lowered, and rushed across a spanse of sandstone bridge that led down and straight through t
he
open
middle. With the downward angle
, the horned warrior outsped the bone soldiers that now must have been reaching a thousand strong. He rounded a temple that held the symbol of a half white moon and half blue moon that appeared to have waves off
of
the lower half. As Saberrak finished the turn, he and Gwenneth stopped, face to face with a set of steel doors that were closed. There was not even a handle in which to pull.
Heads lowered, Saberrak and Gwenne looked to the still one hundred fifty foot drop below, then turned to their friends.

“
Tell me that door opens!” Shinayne was sweating now, having just ran up and down stairs and across bridges for miles without stopping.

“I am afraid not.” Saberrak stepped back a few paces, then lunged and slammed his shoulder into the doors. The echo from inside was muffled, his shoulder ached, and his scalemail rattled. The door was solid steel, it did not give.

“Gwenneth!” James turned back p
leadingly, then faced ahead. Eight
dead knights with crescent moon symbols on their pointed helms of rust and black marched around the curve in the bridge. Then another row, then more, then hundreds appeared within fifty feet and closing. James looked over the
edge, over a thousand there
, hissing as they filled any chance of escape with their numbers over every
single
bridge and stairway.